The report of the joint BES – UKBRAG (UK Biodiversity Research Advisory Group) workshop on ‘Developing the National Ecosystem Asssessment’ is now available to view on the BES website.

The workshop was held as a session at the BES Annual Meeting (University of Hertfordshire, 7 – 10 September 2009) and focused on bringing the UK National Ecosystem Assessment to the attention of BES members and others in the ecological science community. Presentations from the co-chair of the NEA and others were followed by discussion in break-out groups and a session reporting back to participants.

Key points to emerge from the report were: the need for the results of the NEA to be communicated to a broad audience, including the public, HM Treasury and for use in educational materials; the need for the NEA to be supported beyond the timescale currently proposed, to make sure that researchers and policy-makers are supported in efforts to use the outputs, and the need for the results of the NEA to drive future research priorities.